BlackBerry might be struggling to regain its footing in the mobile market right now, but it still has a few strengths that outshine some rivals in key areas. And according to BlackBerry, one of those strengths is the BBM cross-platform messaging app, which apparently tops Apple’s popular iMessage service in a number of ways.
Now, in a new post on BlackBerry’s blog, the company has listed five ways that its BBM product is better than iMessage, and they all focus on BBM’s ability to avoid the huge number of spam attacks that are currently plaguing iPhone and iPad users.
“We all hate spam, whether in our e-mail inbox, or, even more jarringly, when it comes as a mobile message,” BlackBerry’s Jeff Gadway wrote on the company’s blog. “Yet according to an article in WIRED, ‘Apple’s iMessage is being taken over by spammers’ and Cupertino is ‘moving slowly’ to help out ‘beleaguered users.'”
With that, here are five ways BBM prevents iMessage-style spam attacks, as noted by BlackBerry’s blog:
1) BBM is architected in a way that protects our 85 million users against spammers. iMessage works off of phone number or Apple ID. Anyone who has your number or Apple ID can send you messages whether you want them to or not. With BBM, users have a lot more control due to our “invite and accept” paradigm. In other words, both parties need to be mutually committed to being contacts in order to send and receive messages.
2) BBM gives you control. There’s no spam on BBM due to its self-policing system. Users are in control of their contact list and there is no way to send a message without being contacts. You can’t control someone showing up to your house, but you don’t have to open the door. With BBM someone can request to be added to your list, but you don’t have to accept their invite.
3) BBM Protected ups the security ante. Privacy is the main issue with iMessage and spam. BBM protects your privacy by only allowing users to send messages to approved contacts. Our secure enterprise messaging service, BBM Protected, takes it a step further by adding an advanced layer of encryption. This ensures your messages aren’t vulnerable to spying or hacking while being transmitted.
4) BBM empowers you to protect yourself from unsolicited messages. On the rare chance that you get spam or an unwanted ad, you only need to block the person from your contact list and refuse further attempts to reach you in the future.
5) BBM’s anti-spam features work on any platform. BBM is structured so that each user has a unique PIN that’s unique to him or her, regardless of what device is used. Here’s the added bonus: BBM is a true multi-platform network that allows you to securely message users on BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Phone and Android. That’s virtually 100% of all smartphones and tablets out there today. iMessage is only available on Apple products.
